News ‘Would be unreal’: AFL to consult clubs over addition of ‘wildcard round’ to finals

[Altum Volantes]

There's a very real possibility that Richmond, Carlton and Essendon would all be involved in a 7 v 10 & 8 v 9 wildcard round if it was introduced this year. Can't tell me 90,000 at the 'G for Richmond v Carlton (or Essendon) in the wildcard round game could possibly be considered a failure. It would be absolutely massive and people will wonder why we didn't introduce it earlier.

What about if it’s something boring involving GWS, Fremantle, Adelaide and Gold Coast?…AFL 360 would talk about whatever board spill Carlton and Essendon are having that week instead.

Ehhhhhh.

It’s just rewarding mediocrity with extra opportunities. Pass for me.

 

[Do the Dew]

AFL execs consistently come up with shit ideas that nobody wants or asks for to justify their position and pay.

AFLX, gather round, pre-finals bye, mid-season bye, mid-season trade period, wildcard round etc.

Such a useless bunch of campaigners.

 

[Peacock]

Gather round is absolute nonsense.

At the very least make Port and Crows play each other that round.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Gives " made the eight" more uncertainty.
If you finish as high as 7th why should you have to play off for your finals spot to a team that finished as low as10th?

Because…….
………….
………….

$$$$$$$$$$$$

That is why

 

[Corkintheocean]

The AFL’s, SEN’s and Fox Footy‘s sycophantic want to a be all things NFL is the height of cultural cringe.

If you're going to cop similar CTE lawsuits, may offset it with the increase to revenue.

 

[dean33]

Another terrible idea the afl look to take from the US. What’s next, cringy pop songs after goals?

 

[dean33]

The AFL’s, SEN’s and Fox Footy‘s sycophantic want to a be all things NFL is the height of cultural cringe.

I reckon hutchy has his fingerprints all over this.

 

[Do the Dew]

I reckon hutchy has his fingerprints all over this.

Gil's legacy was selling the soul of the game for $$$.

 

[Teen Wolf]

I was told the difference between this and just a top 10 is that these wildcard matches will be something like a "first team to 100 points wins" type of thing. And it'll be called AFL Wild Shootout Weekend.

Hmm sounds like your mail could be on the money there, mate. Just had this come across my desk this morning, not sure what to make of it:

 

[Mitchell Madness]

We need less finals, not more

 

[Dee Train]

What a ****ing stupid idea

 

[MisterMarcus]

In principle, I feel it could work in some circumstances. Like this season, where there's only a game or two between 5th and about 14th, and you could argue several teams would be genuinely unlucky to miss out. Maybe also when a team makes a late charge and has all the momentum leading into September, but just misses out.

But I'm sure there'd also be times when 10th is a pretty mediocre side that's well off the pace.

Perhaps if they absolutely insist on a 'wildcard' system, they could have it for teams with a set number of wins or something. Like if it's a super even season and you get 13 wins but still miss out, you get a wildcard.....

 

[Xtreme]

Only benefit would be if say teams 7-10 were on the same points but the slimmest percentage separating them.

What a stupid idea. Mediocre sides (like mine) don't deserve to play finals, and we need to stop importing all this American s**t to Australia.

The real answer!

 

[Rotayjay]

Were the 9th placed Blues mediocre last year? 12 wins 10 losses with a percentage of 108.3%. Not sure they were any more mediocre than the 8th placed finals participating Bulldogs with 12 wins 10 losses and a percentage of 108.9%.

You need to draw the line somewhere, and I think the 9th best side out of 18 works fine. Being unlucky or just not quite good enough part of sport and what makes it interesting.

 

[Oxirane]

Just accept the spoon with dignity and move on

Understood, I have edited my comment and remove the parts that may have offended you.

 

[Ricmel]

Already it seems that it is ridiculous to play 23 rounds just to whittle down 18 clubs to 8 and 9 times out of 10 clubs at 6,7 and 8 are well off the pace of the top 4. To then say, well in the first 23 rounds you weren't good enough but lets give you one more crack........

Without focussing too much on the numbers, I think a better system would be 17 rounds, each club play each other once to qualify for a 10 club round robin to then qualify for semis then grand-final. So it becomes a 3 tiered season - part 1 is all clubs, part 2 is best 10 and finally an abbreviated final series.

But probably best to just leave it alone.

 

[00Stinger]

Fans dont want this tokenistic bullshit

Media people: You cant win the premiership from outside the top 4

Also Media people: Lets make it a top 16

EAD

 

[Kappa]

AFL execs consistently come up with s**t ideas that nobody wants or asks for to justify their position and pay.

AFLX, gather round, pre-finals bye, mid-season bye, mid-season trade period, wildcard round etc.

Such a useless bunch of campaigners.

Gather round was a massive success, mid-season bye and pre-finals bye were demands in the CBA from the players union.

mid-season trade period hasn't even started yet, could be a big success. Wildcard round will probably be a big success too, and for all the whingers it's an extra round of footy, don't watch it if you don't care.

 

[GC2015]

What about if it’s something boring involving GWS, Fremantle, Adelaide and Gold Coast?…AFL 360 would talk about whatever board spill Carlton and Essendon are having that week instead.

Ehhhhhh.

It’s just rewarding mediocrity with extra opportunities. Pass for me.

You might find those teams boring, but I can see interesting storylines attached to each of them. The Crows would sell out the Adelaide Oval for a wildcard final (53k) as would Freo at Perth Stadium (60k) so it's not as if those hypothetical games would have terrible atmospheres or anything. Even the Suns would likely sell out a wildcard final (25k) but obviously that's not on the same level as the other two.

It's very likely two of the three big Melbourne teams of Richmond, Essendon & Carlton would be involved in a hypothetical wildcard round this year and there's a fair chance at least one of them will be played at the MCG. That's probably the big selling point for the AFL. If it just so happened to be 8th placed Richmond vs 9th place Carlton (who could only be split be percentage) at the MCG in the wildcard round then 80-90k will show up and I highly doubt anyone is complaining about adding that game to the season. Obviously Essendon are interchangeable in that game as well.

 

[The Sultan]

im for it.. but yes some years would be fizzers, like some grand finals. then again if it happened this year it would be a hit..

 

[Toump Ass]

Would be annoying as finishing the H & A tenth and fluking a "wildcard" "magic shootout" "superdooper X-men round" and moving 4 places up the draft.

 

[M Malice]

Call it what it is, it's an expanded 10 team finals series... It's like calling the current 5th v 8th and 6th v 7th Elimination finals games a wildcard round to enter the top 6 finals series.

 

[Scorpus]

Fans: "You really need to fix the standard of umpiring in the AFL, and the inconsistency of the tribunal"

AFL: ".... wildcard round though?"

 

[random260]

I think we should draw the wildcard team in a hat. Any bottom team 8 can play wildcard if they when draw from hat

 

[Madas]

I think we should draw the wildcard team in a hat. Any bottom team 8 can play wildcard if they when draw from hat

To me this is the true definition of a wildcard , in professional surfing they sometimes throw a wildcard local or popular surfer into an event to spice it up